MOSCOW, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia called on the
United States to stop creating an anti-ballistic missile defense system in
Europe before the two nations negotiate on the joint use of an Azeri radar
system, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.
"There must be a freeze on the deployment of missile
defense facilities in Europe for the whole period of analysis and negotiations,"
Lavrov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
"We invite the United States to jointly and
competently assess everything and also to sort things out and achieve universal
understanding," he said.
According to Lavrov, Russian President Vladimir Putin
and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush will hold a detailed discussion on the
problems related to the missile defense system in Kennebenkport, the State of
Maine, on July 1-2.
Earlier on Thursday, at the G8 summit, Putin proposed
to Bush that the United States and Russia jointly use the Gabala radar base in
Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, to replace its plan to station missile
interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic.
Bush described the proposal as "interesting" and said
that the two sides had set up a working group of experts to see how they could
cooperate on missile defense.
MOSCOW, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that the missile defense system the U.S. plans to build in the Czech Republic and Poland could worsen the Iranian nuclear stand-off. Full story
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Russian
President Vladimir Putin promised his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush here
Thursday that Moscow would not oppose a U.S. plan of a radar-based missile
defense system in Europe if it was deployed in Azerbaijan instead of Central
Europe. Full story
BRUSSELS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary-General Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer responded cautiously on Friday to Russia' offer for the United
States to use a Russian-controlled radar in Azerbaijan for a missile defense
shield. Full story
WARSAW, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. plans to base elements
of the anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic should be
decided at the NATO and EU forum, visiting head of the European Parliament
Hans-Gert Poettering said on Tuesday. Full story
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China said on Tuesday that a
U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe may cause new
weapon proliferation problems. Full story
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